This invention relates to highway traffic channelizing devices of the barricade type and more particularly to a road barricade which is portable, substantially indestructible and which will not damage a moving vehicle upon collision therewith, as well as to the method of inexpensively manufacturing such barricade in large quantities of substantially uniform configuration.
Traffic channelizing devices have three basic functions, first, to separate vehicles from hazards such as wrong-way traffic or those created by construction or maintenance activities in or near a traveled way, second, to provide protection for men working in or near a traveled way and third, to guide and direct traffic for purposes other than safety. Obviously, devices designed solely for the third function should merely give a visual indication of the desired flow of traffic but should not be substantial enough to damage a vehicle which collides with them for any reason, particularly inadvertence or inattention of the driver.
However, in order to fulfill the first two functions, it would be necessary for the traffic channelizing device to possess an impossible dual attribute, namely, the ability to absolutely protect workmen on or near the highway from injury by a vehicle which leaves the desired roadway and at the same time avoid creating a hazard to vehicles traveling along the highway.
As a result, a total system of traffic control has developed in which channelizing devices such as light weight, brightly colored, plastic cones that will not inflict any severe damage on a vehicle that strikes them are used to provide a smooth and gradual transition into the desired roadway with progressively more substantial barricades positioned down the traffic stream toward hazard, equipment or workmen. For example, proceeding downstream in the traffic channelizing system the traffic cones may be replaced by painted barrels or drums which are in turn replaced by wooden or metal barricades first in a portable sawhorse configuration, then in a movable sled configuration and finally in a fixed fence-like configuration. The kind of barricade used should be selected in view of the hazard being protected against, and in no case should a barricade be used where a collision with the barricade would produce a more severe injury or damage than a collision with the hazard, equipment or workmen which the system is designed to avoid.
According to this invention, a road barricade suitable for use in a wider range of intermediate points in a total traffic control system is provided. The road barricade of this invention is as substantial in configuration and appearance as the wooden or metal sawhorse type barricade of the prior art and yet upon collision will inflict less damage on a vehicle, and will be damaged less by the vehicle, than the barrel or drum type of traffic channelizing device. In fact, the road barricade of this invention approaches the plastic traffic cone in terms of minimizing damage, good durability, and low cost but yet retains the advantage of the more expensive sawhorse type barricade structures in terms of configuration and appearance.
It is a matter of considerable importance that traffic channelizing devices have a uniform appearance so that they can be easily recognized and understood by the drivers of vehicles. According to this invention, a method of making the road barricades inexpensively of highly durable material and of uniform shape and size is provided.